Semiconductors, or computer chips, have made their way into virtually every electrical product manufactured today. Chips are used not only in very sophisticated industrial and commercial electronic equipment, but also in many household and consumer items such as televisions, clothes washers and dryers, radios and telephones. As many of these types of products become smaller but more functional, there is a need to include more chips in these smaller products. The reduction in size of cellular telephones is one example of how more and more capabilities find their way into smaller and smaller electronic products.
As electronic technology has progressed, dies having more powerful functions in smaller semiconductor packages have been developed. Electronic products are increasingly light and compact due to the efficient fabrication of many types of high-density semiconductor packages. One such package is a flip chip semiconductor package.
In a flip chip semiconductor package, bumps are formed on the bonding pads of a die. Each bump contacts a corresponding contact point on a leadframe, or other substrate, so that the die and the leadframe, or substrate, are electrically connected. Compared with conventional wire bonding and tape automated bonding (TAB) methods of joining a chip with a leadframe or substrate, the flip-chip design provides a shorter overall conductive path and hence better electrical performance in a smaller semiconductor package.
The number of bumps is heated so the number of bumps reflows to form a number of electrical connections between the die and the leadframe or substrate. During the reflow process, as the temperature is raised, the solder bumps collapse. This therefore forms a metallic compound layer between the solder bumps and the contact regions on the leads in an effort to reinforce the bonding between the solder bumps and the leads. The formation of the metallic compound is called a wetting process. However, due to the wetability of the lead frame, after the solder bumps are bonded to predetermined positions on the leads of the lead frame, the solder bumps still keep collapsing and extending outwardly to spread on the leads. This over-collapsing of the solder bumps results in cracking of the bonds, which adversely effects the electrical connection. Furthermore, the over-collapsed solder bumps also significantly decrease the height between the die and the leads. The reduced height has a detrimental effect on subsequent processes in semiconductor fabrication.
Various other methods of bump attachment and bump collapse control for flip chip on a leadframe or substrate have been in practice. In general, the other methods commonly are focused on pre-treatment of the number of lead fingers on the leadframe by laser, etching, masking, or using other wettable metals. Some make use of solder either dispensed or printed on the lead fingers. The pre-treatment of the fingers of the leadframe typically involves higher cost in leadframe manufacture by requiring additional processes that contribute to increasing the manufacturing cycle time and resulting higher yield losses.
One proposed solution involves forming a solder mask on predetermined positions of the leads, wherein the solder mask has at least one opening with a predetermined size for bonding the solder bumps thereto. This proposed solution utilizes the opening size of the solder mask for controlling the amount of collapse of the solder bumps. As the size of the opening increases, the solder bumps can extend outwardly to a greater extent; that is, the larger the collapse amount, the smaller the vertical height of the solder bumps correspondingly. Therefore, with the control in the collapse degree of the solder bumps, the height difference between the semiconductor chip and the leads can be predetermined, thus eliminating the occurrence of the over-collapsing of the solder bumps. However, the formation of the solder mask on the lead frame uses processes such as screen-printing or photolithographic patterning processes, which are quite complex and expensive.
Another proposed solution involves forming a layer of underfill material with or without a flux additive over the entire surface of the leads and positioning the solder bumps into the layer of underfill material until the solder bumps contact the leads. This solution precludes the use of an underfilling process subsequent to die attach thereby increasing the possibility of the creation of gaps or voids in the underfill material, which adversely effect the performance and reliability of the semiconductor.
Another proposed solution uses a solder alloy having a higher melting point in an attempt to control the over-collapsing of the solder bumps. However, such solder bumps generally are more expensive.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.